Spells of Ice and fire
by Grimmuald
Summary: The Scooby gang gets caught on the wrong side of a spell from a warlock who wants them out of the way, they are pulled into the Icewind Dale and are now caught up in the evil that threatens to swallow the land.
1. Chapter 1: Odd meetings

**Spells of Ice**** and Fire**

The Scooby gang gets caught on the wrong side of a spell from a warlock who wants them out of the way, they are pulled into the Icewind Dale and are now caught up in the evil that threatens to swallow the land. With new friends, and enemies straight from the hells, the Scoobies are off to stop another apocalypse. (Takes place someplace before the end of season 3, and no Oz, sorry guys, but Willow is starting to use magic.) No parings, yet anyway.

I don't own Icewind Dale or Buffy the vampire slayer in anyway, shape or form, but if they accept my offer of 5 dollars then I might.

**Chapter 1: Odd meetings**

"Xander look out!" Buffy's voice was heard shouting over the sounds of fighting. Xander looked up just in time to dodge, or more precisely fall out of the way of the speeding arrow of fire. He then cursed to himself as the demon that he was fighting picked him up and threw him bodily into the nearest wall.

"It was all that stupid warlock's fault!" Xander thought to himself savagely as he readied his axe while the demon closed in on him.

The "warlock" had showed up a week ago, spouting warnings of a new group of demons who here trying to open the hellmouth… again.

Of course they only found out later that he was the leader of the demons, and had just wanted them out of the way while he tried to open the hellmouth himself. Which leads up to their predicament now, fighting a small, but tough group of demons in the library above the hellmouth while the warlock was throwing out spells like a fat man's buttons bursting from his shirt at an all you can eat buffet.

The demon charged Xander, but Xander was ready for it, as it ran at him, he swung his axe sideways at the demon and caught it full in the stomach, causing it to double over before he finished it off. By the time he was done, Buffy, Giles, and Willow had finished off the rest of the group with only the warlock left, and boy was he pissed.

"That's it! I'll see you all freeze, meddlesome fools!" He shouted, before raising his hands causing Jets of Ice to shoot towards them.

Seconds before it hit him, Xander could already feel the cold before he was surrounded in ice, but he also felt something… Explode?

BOOM!

The explosion rocked the entire library, and the last thing Xander could remember before passing out, was being lifted into the air by the blast.

On the shore of the small village of Easthaven, an Elf was staring out over the lake that the village was built around. His name was Nathan, he had short brown hair, and a longsword in a scabbard slung on his back.

It was peacefully quite as he watched the sunset over the lake, but suddenly, Nathan could feel the air close to him charge up, like a bolt of lightning had passed through it, and then, with a loud bang, a flash of white light, and an even louder crash, a group of people appeared from thin air and fell a foot to the ground.

Quickly standing in case of any hostile intentions, Nathan watched them carefully as a young woman with blond hair got to her feet and faced him; the rest of her group seemed to have passed out. They both asked the same question at the same moment. "Who the Hell are you?"

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	2. Chapter 2: Goblins and fish

**Chapter 2: Goblins and fish**

I don't own Icewind Dale or Buffy the vampire slayer in anyway, shape or form.

It was early in the morning at the inn, as the Chosen one dragged herself from her bed. After their original crash-landing, Buffy had to talk fast to avoid any hostilities from the elf that had seen them arrive, it took 5 minutes to explain the situation, and 10 more to convince him that she wasn't crazy.

After that discussion, they had taken her friends to the small inn, within the town, and she couldn't help but chuckle when she remembered the look on his face as she picked up both Giles and Xander, before walking away like she was carrying pillows rather then people.

Buffy entered the main room of the inn to find Nathan sitting at one of the many tables, finishing off a bowl of… something.

"What is that?" She asked him, by way of a morning greeting.

"I would say its gruel, but I'm not sure if this even goes under the classification of food." He answered, giving the remains a prod with a spoon.

"Your friends awake yet?" He asked.

"Not yet, but when they are, you're gonna be on the receiving end of a lot of questions." Buffy replied.

"I'll answer what I can, but I doubt I could tell you much, I'm not even sure how you came here to begin with." He replied.

Just at that moment, a fully alert Giles, a slightly less alert Willow, and a half awake Xander came trooping into the room. Sitting at their table, Giles cut straight to the point. "Who are you? And where are we?"

"Introductions huh, ok, well I'm Nathan, so hi." He said, waving at the group "And you are?"

"My name is Rupert Giles." The ex watcher introduced himself.

"I'm Willow." Willow told him, with a cheery, if slightly nervous smile.

"And I'm Xander, the slayer of twinkies and demons in hard boiled eggs everywhere." Xander introduced himself.

"What's a twinkie?" Nathan asked since twinkies weren't due to be invented in this dimension for 500+ years.

Xander was starting to have that sinking feeling as he realized that one of his favorite foods didn't even exist here.

"Look, never mind about that." Buffy cut in before he could say anything "where are we?"

"Well locally, we are in a small village called Easthaven, on a larger scale; we're in the Icewind Dales." He told them

"Yea, haven't heard of it." Xander told them.

The Scooby gang exchanged worried looks.

"So I assume that we are in a different dimension." Giles stated to the others. He then turned to Nathan. "Tell me, have you heard of a place called England?"

"No, is that over the Sea of swords? Because I have never ventured that far." Nathan asked

"No, it isn't, and considering that I have never heard of the Sea of swords before, I would say that we are in serous trouble." Giles concluded with a sigh.

"So what now?" Willow asked.

Before anybody could answer her, a tall man, encased in armor walked up to their table.

"Excuse me, but do any of you know here know where I might find Hrothgar?" He asked them.

Nathan had to bite back replying with "Not here" as Buffy asked "Who?"

"Hrothgar is basically the mayor of this village; all problems go directly to him." Nathan explained to them, he then turned back to the knight "and he is probably… right behind you." He finished as he saw who just walked in.

Hrothgar was a well built man in his late forties, with black hair that was graying slightly; he walked like a man who knew his way around a battlefield.

The knight spun around at Nathans last words, and then headed straight for Hrothgar.

"I and my fellow knights come from the king of the North Islands to help you fight against this incoming threat." The knight told him.

"I am glad my call for aid has been answered, gather your company and meet me at my house and I will discuses the situation with you." Hrothgar told him.

The knight nodded and left, Hrothgar then headed over to their table.

"So, what's this? New faces in town eh? Well met, strangers. The name is Hrothgar, originally of Hillsfar, but now after years of traveling up, down, and under Faerun, I am content to call this town my home. Who might you be?" He greeted them.

"Nathan." Nathan told him with a nod.

"Hi I'm Buffy." Buffy replied to Hrothgar "these are my friends Xander, Giles, and Willow."

"Well then, welcome to Easthaven. Whatever your business in these parts might be, I would offer you this small piece of advice, while you're in my town, you'd do well to be on your best behavior. These folk are under my protection, and anyone who would seek to do harm to them in any way shall answer to me. That said I'll let you get back to your cups. I'm sure you've had a long journey." He told them.

"That's one way to put it." Xander said under his breath.

Ignoring him, Hrothgar continued "If you are in need of Equipment and supplies, they can be purchased next door at Pomab's Emporium. Pomab's prices are a bit high, even for a Calishite, but you would be better off well equipped and short of coin then the other way round. Once you've had a chance to get your bearing, come see me at my house, its just a couple doors west of here, there is some business that I must discuss with you. Farewell." Hrothgar finished before leaving them.

"I wonder what he wants to discus with us." Willow wondered out loud.

"Well, unless someone can think of a way to get us home, I think we should look around, I mean, it can't hurt right?" Buffy said.

"You'd be surprised." Nathan told them. "anyway, if you are from another dimension, I don't have any idea on how to get you back, I would suggest finding a powerful mage, but the only other dimension that I have seen them being able to open a gate to would be the ones with fire and brimstone, but you're all welcome to come with me if you plan to stay here." He offered as he stood up.

"Where are you planning to go?" Willow asked him curiously.

"Visit Hrothgar." Nathan told them with a grin

The rest of the Scooby gang looked at each other.

They nodded in agreement; after all, they didn't really have much alternative.

When they entered Hrothgar's home, the first thing Xander noticed was the several tables, stacked with what looked like trophies, from vases with interesting designs on them, to heads of strange creatures.

"Well met friend, and welcome to my home. Make yourselves comfortable but try no t to break anything. Many of these curiosities that you see lying about have… sentimental value." Hrothgar welcomed them as they entered.

"Where did you get all this stuff?" Buffy asked as she looked at heads of several monsters on the wall.

"Ah, they're all remembrances of my adventuring days, little trinkets and the like that I picked up here and there. More keepsakes than valuables really, leftover from my days of fortune and glory." Hrothgar explained with a small smile.

"Adventuring days huh, so you're retired then?" Nathan asked.

"Semi-retired actually. This region is till untamed and is fraught with many dangers. I've had plenty of opportunities in the last few years to take up my sword and shield, to do battle with those who threaten the safety of Easthaven and its neighbors. In fact, I'm planning such an expedition right now. That is what I wanted to speak to you about." Hrothgar told him.

"An expedition?" Giles asked.

"Yes." Hrothgar replied "we've received word from Kuldahar, our neighbour to the south that evil forces are stirring near the spine of the world. I am organizing an expedition to investigate, and you all look like the capable sort, enough that you would like to join us, what say you?" Hrothgar asked.

"What kinda evil forces are we talking about?" Buffy asked, interested.

"We don't really know, the message wasn't very specific." Hrothgar answered with a frown. "But we really need to get this expiation moving, so are you in or out?"

"I'm in." Nathan shrugged "Don't know about these guys though."

"Why not, sounds exciting with bad guys to beat, we're in." Buffy told him.

"Excellent! Glad to have you all aboard, I plan to assemble the rest of the expedition and head out for Kuldahar within a few days. With storms brewing in the mountains, I'd rather we depart sooner, but there are matters that require my attentions here around the town." Hrothgar told them.

"Matters? Maybe we can help." Giles offered.

"Actually, now I think about it, maybe you could help, Pomab has been complaining lately that the regular caravan from Caer-Dinival is long overdue, and without it he would be out of business. Now normally I would take Pomab's complaining with a pinch of salt, but with heavy snows on the way, it would be best if the caravan made it through safely." Hrothgar told them.

"So what do you want us to do?" Xander asked

"I want you to find the caravan. Leave town by the way of the south bridge and scout the hills west of Lac Dinneshere, between Easthaven and Caer-Dinival. The caravans always stick close to the shoreline this time of year. Once you have found it, see them safely to Easthaven. In the meantime, I'll assemble the rest of the expedition and make the final plans for the journey. Good luck and safe journey." Hrothgar finished.

As the group trooped outside, Giles turned to Nathan and asked "How common are things like monsters and bandits on the roads?"

Nathan thought about it for a moment before replying "their not rare, but not really that common either, generally they stay away from caravan paths like these as their too close to civilization, but you always get the adventures one or two."

They headed down the southern edge of the town, following the path until they reached a wooden bridge. Xander was so deep in thought about their circumstances at the moment that he almost missed the small boy running up the bridge way.

"MONSTERS!" The boy yelled and almost plowed right into Xander.

The boy practically bounced off Xander before saying in a panic "Quick! We've got to go get Hrothgar! There are monsters in the town, they almost ate me!"

"Woa, ok slow down a sec, what are you talking about?" Xander asked him.

"Monsters, a whole bunch of them, they came down to the shore while I was fishing, I dropped everything and ran when they saw me, but I guess they were just after my fish."

"So where are these monsters, and what did they look like?" Xander asked him

"Their just over the bridge and down by the lake, their short with green skin and pointed ears." The boy told them.

"Goblins!" Nathan hissed as he drew his sword.

"Da told me not to fish out their, but I can't help it, he's gonna kill me for losing today's catch!" The boy told them

"Don't worry kid, we'll deal with these monsters, and get your fish back." Buffy assured the kid.

They headed down the hillside to where the boy had said the goblins were, and sure enough, eight smelly goblins where sitting at the base of the hill, the largest one, which Buffy assumed was the leader, was munching on a fish.

As the goblins hadn't seen them yet, they decided to charge them, while Giles and Willow dealt with the ones at the back.

Nathan, Buffy, and Xander all raised their weapons and charged, startling the goblins from their meal. Buffy saw a small rock fly past her, which she assumed was levitated and thrown by Willow, and smack straight into one of the goblin archers. Buffy had her Stake in her hand, left over from their original fight, which she used to impale a goblin, while Xander took out another one with his axe. While Nathan was fighting off two at once, Giles had shot another goblin with is crossbow, while Xander and Willow took on another one, leaving Buffy to deal with the leader. The goblin grinned manically as it swung its axe at her, which she just managed to avoid. Making a mental note to find some armor for both her and her allies (since Nathan was the only one wearing any protection, in his case hardened leather.), Buffy avoided another attack, before punching the goblin in the face so hard that it was lifted off its feat, and slammed into its ally, which was then helpless against their attackers. After they finished off the remaining goblin, Nathan started to check through the dead goblins belongings.

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked him as he went through one of their pockets.

"Checking if they have anything interesting." He answered without looking up.

"But you can't just…" Buffy started protesting.

"Why not, it's not like their gonna us it again." Nathan pointed out

"HA! There it is." He said before picking up a large fish, it had a rather large bite mark in its head, but apart from that, was relatively unscathed.

Unable to come up with a good argument for his reasoning, Buffy looked back at the goblin leader that she killed. It was wearing chainmail, which Buffy remembered, would come in rather useful now as their enemies were more likely to throw more then just punches now. She grabbed it before following the others back up the hill.

"We found your fish, or what's left of it anyway." Xander told the kid, who was waiting at the top of the hill.

Nathan passed overt the fish to the kid, who thanked them before rushing off.

"So." Xander said happily "we just need to find a caravan somewhere on this road and drag it back to the village huh, we kicked those goblins asses, so what could go wrong?"

Even Nathan was staring at him after he finished.

"You know when you think something, and it sounds much better in your head then when you say it?" Xander asked them nervously as the implications of what he just said set in. "Yea, woops."

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	3. Chapter 3: Orks or the lot?

**Chapter 3: Just Orks or the lot?**

I don't own Icewind Dale or Buffy the vampire slayer in anyway, shape or form, kinda wished that I did though.

As Nathan and his new traveling companions headed down the trail that should bring them on track with the caravan, while they walked, Nathan was knee-deep in thought. His life had definitely gotten more interesting then he would have generally liked since the arrival of Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles, also having Hrothgar asking them to join in an expedition to fight unknown evil was just icing on the cake. Not that he was complaining mind you, strange people from other dimensions and impending doom tends to keep him from having to think about some of the problems that he had to deal with. Speaking of strange people… As they had started traveling to find the caravan, Buffy, Xander and Giles had been quite content to just talk to each other, which Nathan was quite happy with as he barely knew them to begin with, but unfortunately for him, Willow had decided to take it upon herself to get to know their new companion better.

"So, where are you from?" Willow asked him

"Suldanessellar" Nathan answered, deciding to humor her.

"Is that an Elven city, if so what's it like? Compared to human cities I mean?" Willow asked

"It's… very green and rather high up due to our preference of building in tree tops." Nathan told her after a brief pause.

"You sound like you don't like it very much." Willow noted

"What? No, I'm just not much of a heights person." Nathan admitted. "So where are you from then?"

"Sunnydale, it looks rather different from that village we were at before, but while it's not built in trees, it is built over a Hell mouth." She answered.

"A hell mouth?" Nathan asked curiously

"It's basically some sort of a gateway to hell, and we fight the creatures that come from it." Willow told him.

"It's a gate way to hell? And you actually live on top of it." Nathan asked in stunned amazement.

"Yea, well, the town is famous for its high death rates, but it's not so bad with Buffy helping to protect it." Willow told him.

"I take it that Buffy is not exactly normal?" Nathan asked, thinking back to when he saw Buffy lift a goblin of its feet with one punch.

"I really shouldn't say anymore, but Buffy herself, or even Giles could tell you more about that." Willow told him before looking ahead. "Hey, is that cart tracks?"

"Yea… and its rearing to the left of the path." Nathan said, while following the tracks with his gaze.

As Willow headed back to tell the others what she saw, Nathan couldn't help but wonder just what had caused the caravan to leave the safety of the path…

As the group followed the tracks through a bend in the cliff face, Willow was still trying to make sense of everything that had happened. She had gotten used to the fact that magic and monsters were commonplace ever since Buffy had come to Sunnydale, but now it seems like the world has taken a Lord of the Rings twist, with Elves, Orks, and even Hobbits which she had seen in the village.

Just then, Willow noticed Buffy stiffen.

"Something's coming" Buffy told the group quietly

The group waited, squinting into the snow, with weapons drawn, while Willow had a rock ready.

Willow couldn't help but wish that she had a spell that was a bit more powerful then throwing rocks at people, but she had only just started learning magic, and didn't even have a proper teacher since she had to learn out of books. She could have asked Giles to teach her, but she figured that he would be against her learning magic, which was confirmed for her when Giles chewed her out after she had used magic by throwing a rock at one of the goblins they had met before.

"Do any of you hear that?" Nathan asked

As he mentioned it, Willow could hear something, almost like… a dog in the snow.

As soon as she thought this, it came into view or more accurately they.

Two large, white, wolves ran at the group at full speed, with just enough time for them to ready themselves, the wolves charged straight into Buffy and Xander.

Xander managed to block the wolf that leapt at him with his axe, before both him and Nathan converged on the wolf.

Buffy was readying herself to block the other wolf, but the wolf was hit by a rock that was levitated by Willow, knocking it to the ground, which was then finished off by Giles with his crossbow.

"They were some really nasty dogs." Xander said.

"They must be running low on food sources around here if they are willing to attack us…, or they were scared off." Nathan said, more to himself then to the rest of the group.

"This means, if the caravan happened to be attacked by something roaming the area, it's probably close to this location." Nathan continued.

"Alright, then we should keep following the tracks, that should lead us right to it." Giles told them.

They followed the tracks around a bend in the cliff face.

"Over there!" Xander told them, pointing to a cave. "Did you guys see that?"

"No, what are you talking about?" Buffy told him, the others also showing looks of confusion.

"Something was walking inside; it was large, and green." Xander told them.

"Great, well that can range from fat goblins to Ogres." Nathan complained.

"That must be the caravan." Willow told them, pointing to several empty carts along the side of the cliff face.

The group headed inside the cave, Xander couldn't help but cough as the smell hit them. As they entered further into the cave, Xander also felt "something", he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it felt like something evil was about.

"I don't know why, but it feels like there is something, well… evil around here." Xander told the others.

The rest of the Scooby gang continued to scrutinize their surroundings, while Nathan was giving Xander a thoughtful look.

Just then, several Orks walked into their part of the tunnel, saw them, gave grunting snarls, and charged with weapons raised.

"Watch out!" Buffy warned the others, before running at the first Ork.

Xander ran at the second one, ready to give an almighty hit with his axe, only to duck, narrowly avoiding having his head taken off. Thinking fast, he smacked the Ork in the stomach with the top of the axe, knocking it back several paces, before leaping at it to deliver the killing blow.

Once Xander had managed to dislodge his Axe from its new resting place, the fight had finished, and several new Ork corpses decorated the cave entrance.

"That was easier then I thought." Nathan commented as he stuck his sword back into his scabbard without looking, and since his scabbard hung loosely from his back, it was quite a feat that he didn't stab himself.

"Yes, these Orks seem quite inclined for the bull rush approach." Giles replied.

"Hey Xander, catch!" Buffy called out, Xander looked around just in time to catch the shirt of chainmail that she had thrown at him. "Thought you might need it." She told him

"Thanks Buff." Xander replied before putting on the shirt

"No problem Xan." Buffy replied with a small smile.

They continued deeper into the cave, finding empty boxes of what Xander assumed were the supplies from the caravan. As they finally made their way to the deepest part of the cave, the group suddenly found themselves surrounded by 12 Orks, 12 ugly, smelly, irritated Orks, and one that Xander guessed was their leader, since it was head and shoulders taller then the rest, and held what looked like a human two handed sword in one hand.

"Poa! You stink!" Buffy exclaimed, while holding her nose. "I mean, I've smelt some really bad things, but you guys take the cake, seriously! Do you not know what a bath is or something?"

"Uh, Buffy?" Willow interrupted tentatively "It might be better not to annoy the 8 foot tall giant with a massive sword."

Unfortunately, by this point, the very large Ork had finally snapped out of its shocked state.

"WWWAAARRRRGGGG!" It roared, before the entire group converged on them.

Xander quickly struck out at one of the several Orks that charged at him, managing to gain a lucky blow, and knocked it off its feet, but that still left 11 to go. Xander quickly fell to avoid the second ones attack, and kicked out at a third one, knocking it over. He quickly got up, and managed to intercept the second Orks attack, before punching it with his free hand.

"OW!" he yelled, as his hand smacked into its bony chin. While his hand felt like it had punched a brick wall, the Ork he had hit stumbled back in surprise, giving himself enough time to finish it off. Just then, he felt a sharp pain in his back, before finding himself falling to the ground. As he was slipping into unconsciousness, he heard someone yell his name, before a sound of a rock hitting flesh reached him, and everything went black…

Buffy had just finished off her second Ork before she heard a yell, looking up she saw Xander falling to the ground, with an Ork following him due to a rock in the face.

Before she could do anything, she felt something large and solid hit her, sending her into the cave wall. She looked up to see the 8 foot tall monstrosity charging towards Nathan, who was preoccupied with two Orks himself.

"Nathan! Behind you!" She yelled as she got two her feet.

As she ran towards it, she saw Nathan look up in time to see the monstrosity about to hit him with its massive sword. Nathan raised his hand, as if to ward off the blow, but just as its blade hit him, a pale shield of energy encircled him, which reacted violently as the blade hit it, but not breaking. The monstrosities arm snapped backwards as it unexpectedly hit something solid, giving Nathan enough time to dodge another Ork attack before Buffy leapt at the huge Ork, plunging her stake into its back, it went down with an odd "urk" sound, before she turned her attentions to the remaining Orks. Or would have, if Giles and Willow hadn't finished them off.

The group then converged on Xander, who was still unconscious and breathing shallowly.

"Is there something we can do? Like a spell?" Willow was asking Giles frantically.

"Maybe, but I don't know any spells like that, perhaps…" Giles turned to Nathan, who was rummaging through his belongings. "You wouldn't happen to know anybody close by to help."

"Yes, but due to my ability to constantly walk into trouble; she gave me some stuff to help so I wouldn't have to constantly revisit her." He told them as he continued to search.

"AH HA! Found it." He exclaimed while pulling out an odd blue bottle.

"Quick, open his mouth." He told them,

Willow quickly propped Xander's mouth open, as Nathan poured the potion into his mouth.

Xander gave half way between a cough and a splutter as he came too, and as they watched, his wounds started to heal themselves before their very eyes.

"It's a potion of healing." Nathan explained "It's not a very potent one, but it does the job."

"Eah!" Xander groaned while sitting up "Did you get the number of the bus that hit me?" he asked.

"A bus?" Nathan asked "maybe there was something in that potion that I missed."

"He's joking." Willow told him with a relieved chuckle.

"Right, well come on you." Nathan said as he helped Xander up,"It'll be a bit sore for a while, but you'll be fine."

As Nathan and Willow helped Xander up, Buffy had taken the ex monsters sword, and was swinging it experimentally.

"Woa! Careful Buff, you could have someone's eye out with that." Xander said with a weak smile.

"Hey! I do have some experience in handling these things." She told him with a mock pout.

"That's what she said." Xander said with a chuckle.

Buffy looked at him threateningly "Your lucky your injured mister!" She told him before cracking a smile.

"You all might want to look at this." Giles interrupted them as they laughed.

Giles was standing over the dead body of, what Nathan identified as an Ogre, holding a scroll that he had pulled off its person.

"Looks like they did get the caravan on its way through." He told them "We better tell Hrothgar about this."

"Also, Nathan, could you tell me what these do?" Giles asked, showing the Elf several more scrolls.

"Their magic scrolls, you can use these to learn new spells, that one is a type of magic missile spell, and the other one is a horror spell." He told them.

"Here" he said, passing them to Willow "You're a mage right, you can use these if you don't already know them."

Willow opened the scroll of magic missile, and was studying it intensely as they left the cave; she was so absorbed in it, that she almost tripped over a rock sticking out of the ground, which while her other arm was helping to hold Xander, was not a good idea..

"Willow, I'll take the other one, since I should start brushing up on my magic again considering the circumstances." Giles told her before taking the other scroll, while she put her own away.

"Also." He continued "Nathan, why didn't you tell us that you could use magic?"

"He can use magic? Since when?" Buffy asked.

"He cast that shield spell when the Ogre attacked him, remember?" Giles told her before turning back to the Elf.

"You never asked." Nathan replied.

"Is there anything else about you that you should tell us about?" Giles asked.

"I like rainy days, small hamsters called Boo… uh, I can pick a lock, and deactivate traps, stuff like that too." Nathan answered.

"What are you, a thief?" Xander asked.

"Hey! I prefer the term adventurer!" Nathan told him slightly offended.

"Alright, alright." Xander told him, while trying to show a sign of peace, which was rather hard as both Willow and Nathan were helping hold him by the shoulders.

When they got back to Easthaven, the headed straight to Hrothgars house. Xander was sitting in a chair as they explained what happened to the caravan.

"Orks, strange, they usually don't venture this close to the village, I guess they must be stocking up for the winter." He mused to himself. "Anyway, it's good that you have arrived back, our expedition is just about ready to leave, gather any supplies you need from around the village and meet me by the town entrance."

The group quickly headed around town to stock up on anything they could need for the journey, Xander also bought himself a medium sized shield, as he figured it could do more damage then his fist in a fight, as well as protect his side.

Buffy had kept the two handed sword, while Giles had stocked up on bolts for his crossbow, as well as buying some Leather amour, which gave him basic protection, while not being chunky enough to interfere with any spell casting he needed to do.

It was midday as they headed off with Hrothgars expedition, and little did they know that, from the very first step they took out of the village, they were being watched…

(Suggestions, comments, feel free to review)


End file.
